The use of headache racks has become increasingly prominent for pick up trucks and load bearing vehicles especially with relation to carrying out work and transporting large items, thereby obtaining the full benefits of such vehicles. Headache racks are generally located immediately behind the cabin of a pickup truck and generally have a raised cross bar capable of bearing a load such as a ladder, or wood beams or other object. Often times such cross bars are utilized as a cantilever when such objects are placed in the bed of a pick up truck.
Headache racks often times employ a screen of some type beneath the cross bar for protection of passengers therein. Generally, pick-up trucks have a window located in the rear portion of the cab and thus some type of protection may be considered for preventing articles contained in the bed of the truck from lurching forward as a projectile and passing through the window upon sudden stop. Such may be the historical cause that gave rise to the term “headache rack” as by protective screens welded to the rack and positioned in front of the rear cab window articles can be stopped from passing through and causing “headaches” or severe injury to the passengers within. Usually the screens which are part of the rack are less for show and more for protection, however, some may be designed to have at least in part ornamental purposes.
In the past, screens have been welded and permanently integrated with the rack, allowing no adaptability and rendering the owner of the vehicle unable to change screens without replacing the entire rack. Moreover, throughout the industry racks have heretofore been vehicle specific. Different brands of pick-up truck vehicles each have their own specific dimensions, widths and proportions. As headache racks have most of the component parts welded together, once a rack is made, its dimensions are set and thus only fit the particular vehicle brands they are designed for. This lack of flexibility sets a rigid boundary on owner of a vehicles regarding which racks they may buy and what they may do with them. What is needed therefore is a headache rack that allows adaptability and greater flexibility and functionality for the pick-up truck vehicle owner.